Good fantasy (or sci-fi) books?

[Cpt_Oblivious]

Terry Pratchett. Discworld books are amazing, but he's also done some other good books like Johnny and the Bomb, or Good Omens

But read other stuff first, you'll never get through all the discworld stuff.

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents is very good.
As is Wee Free Men.

 

[Trivun]

Two words. Ian Irvine. Honestly, read his 'Three Worlds Cycle', eleven books in total but very well worth it. Please, if anyone here has read them then let me know, because I feel like I'm one of only two people in the world (I know the other guy) who's read them, and they really are a very well written and underrated series of books. Surprisingly they're actually better than A Song of Ice and Fire and the Wheel of Time series', but those are the books that always get mentioned on threads like this. Ian Irvine is a brilliant author, one of the few people I've heard of who is actually better than Robert Jordan and I fully reccommend his books.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

I'll join the Terry Pratchett crowd. You should read that.

As for science fiction I guess I would say Frank Herberts Dune series (Mostly the first ones or at least just the ones written by the man himself).

Other than that I greatly enjoyed Alastair Reynolds Revalation Space series. If you're into a bit of space opera and some musings about our future you should check them out. The whole transhumanism theme is pretty interesting.

Joe Haldemans The Forever War is also very much worth a read.

I also noticed a mention of The Sword of Truth. It's worth reading, no doubt, but as mentioned it does get really really preachy at times. Probably worst in Faith of the Fallen. I guess Ayn Rand did not live for nothing.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Karl Schroder's "Sun of Suns" is a phenomenal Steam Powered Pirate Adventure that takes place in a giant space balloon where people build their own fusion powered suns. A fantastic read full of swash buckling action.

 

[gragimor]

Discworld. If you like Hitchhiker's Guide, than read Discworld.

Sandman and American Gods come in a close second.

indeed, writer of the diskworld books is Terry Pratchett, realy worth checking out.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

Terry Pratchett. Discworld books are amazing, but he's also done some other good books like Johnny and the Bomb, or Good Omens

But read other stuff first, you'll never get through all the discworld stuff.

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents is very good.
As is Wee Free Men.

It's perfectly possible to get through all the Discworld canon. At least it was for me. If it grips you I'd say there's no way back. At least my book shelf looks that way - thirty plus books take a lot of room.

And The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents is indeed amazing. Very well written. And I can also recommend listening to the audio book. I for one enjoy Stephen Briggs a lot and especially in TAMahER.

Edited for typos and a correction.

 

[Mewick_Alex]

Terry Pratchett. Discworld books are amazing, but he's also done some other good books like Johnny and the Bomb, or Good Omens

But read other stuff first, you'll never get through all the discworld stuff.

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents is very good.
As is Wee Free Men.

True, but the good thing about Discworld is that the books can usually be split in to smaller series within the main Discworld universe. Good call with Amazing Maurice though, kind of a shame he only did that as a one off.

 

[DannyBoy451]

Ringworld, by Larry Niven. It's basically set on a kind of Halo.

But seriously, read Lord of the Rings, the first 250-300 pages of the Fellowship are complete ass but it gets so much better after that.

 

[AlphaOmega]

I also noticed a mention of The Sword of Truth. It's worth reading, no doubt, but as mentioned it does get really really preachy at times. Probably worst in Faith of the Fallen. I guess Ayn Rand did not live for nothing.

Wich one was that again? I read the first 6 in dutch.

Spoiler

If you mean the Nikki-richard focussed book with the statue plotline, hell yeah that was preachy.

 

[Lord Hutch]

I'm going to go ahead and recomend The Wheel of Time series for fantasy books, epic in everyway.

For Sci-Fi I would have to recomend Enders Game, about a child being whisked away at the age of mearly three to attend an unforgiving school where children are trained to meet an alien menace.

Two more for 'ya, though they may be a bit more Horror than they are Sci-Fi:

Plague Zone [http://www.brokentype.com/pz/] As you probably guessed, about a zombie plague.

Thirteen Bullets [http://www.brokentype.com/thirteenbullets/2006/01/1.html] This ones the first in a series of gruesome vampire hunting tales. It's a bit different, as the vampires within arn't the civilized almost nobel quiet vampires, rather they are brutal blood crazed killers. Oh! And no Vampire on Human love, which I don't know about you, but is a major plus for me.

By the way, First Post for me, Huzzah!

EDIT: Forgot to mention that if you follow the Thirteen Bullets and Plague Zone links you can read 'em online.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

I also noticed a mention of The Sword of Truth. It's worth reading, no doubt, but as mentioned it does get really really preachy at times. Probably worst in Faith of the Fallen. I guess Ayn Rand did not live for nothing.

Wich one was that again? I read the first 6 in dutch.

Spoiler

If you mean the Nikki-richard focussed book with the statue plotline, hell yeah that was preachy.

That is indeed the one I mean. I mean, I don't disagree with the message as such but at some point I just kept thinking: 'Alright! Enough already! I get it! Stop tormenting me!'. Kinda like when I read Atlas Shrugged.

 

[Susan Arendt]

I second the Belgariad and the Malloreon. Good times, both of those series. After those, though, all of Eddings' work starts to feel very much the same.

If you're still working on your English, I'd definitely recommend a book called Blood Engines by T.A. Pratt. It's the first in a series about a sorceress called Marla Mason. Very simple reads, pure entertainment. I'm on the third book now (you can technically read them in any order you like, it's not a continuing story arc), and enjoy the series immensely.

 

[Agent Larkin]

Cheap and cheerful ones:

The Jon Shannow books by David Gemmal (post apocylaptic fantasy)
The Black Magican trilogy by Trudi Canavan
The first three of the vampire chronicles by Anne Rice (dont read the rest they just get confusing)
The Discworld series (Fantasy comedy satire)
The Belgariad and the Mallorean by David Eddings are also good.
I dont read much sci-fi so all the above are fantasy.

 

[oliveira8]

Sagas (more than 3 books.):
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
The Dark Tower by Stephen King
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
Discworld by Terry Pratchett(any thing by Pratchett really)
Elric by Michael Moorcock
Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind

Trilogies:
Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien(Doh!)

Others:
Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane by Robert E. Howard
The Hobbit by Tolkien
The Silmarillion by Tolkien
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
American Gods by Neil Gaiman(anything by gaiman really...)


Knock yourself out.

If you really want I'll make one for Sci-Fi too.

 

[Vaevictusbiyatch]

As far as standalone books go:

Neal Stephenson: Diamond Age
Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash

N.S. has a gift for spinning together so many intelligent topics, from tribalism to linguistics to awesome future-tech, that you come out educated or at least feeling as though you've done more with your reading time than 'blacksmith's son/nerf herder' meets 'elf/cyborg alien' and goes adventuring in 'mythical forest/distopian ecumenopolis.

If you're after soem slightly younger stuff:

Phillip Reeve: Mortal Engines series

The themes may not be totally original, but the composition is right up there with Tolkien for completeness and awesomeness.

Happy reading

And for a good visceral read that doesn't descend to 'blood' every other word

David Gemell: Waylander, Waylander II, Hero in the Shadows
David Gemell: Rigante quartet

 

[Uskis]

"A Canticle for Liebowitz".. Walter M. Miller.. there you go

Otherwize.. Slaughterhouse 5 by Vonnegut... Classic!!


I quite enjoyed "the witcher".. Polish fantasy thingy

 

[szs0061]

i personally love the wheel of time series by james oliver rigney(robert jordan) that will keep you occupied for a long time and if you like them then brent weeks sure did rip off most of his night angel trilogy also i am a fan of robert a heinlein

I actually tried to read them, but after half the first book, it got so terribly frustrating that I couldn't take any more. Not to say it's a bad book, just that my tiny rain can't handle that kind of complex, yet genius writing. When my English vocabulary and my patience gets better, I may start again, but for now, I'll put it on the shelf (no pun intended). It's sad though that the last book won't be written by him.

yes the first book isnt to terribly exciting but after that one he changes the tone changes dramatically and the series starts to get much better

 

[oliveira8]

i personally love the wheel of time series by james oliver rigney(robert jordan) that will keep you occupied for a long time and if you like them then brent weeks sure did rip off most of his night angel trilogy also i am a fan of robert a heinlein

I actually tried to read them, but after half the first book, it got so terribly frustrating that I couldn't take any more. Not to say it's a bad book, just that my tiny rain can't handle that kind of complex, yet genius writing. When my English vocabulary and my patience gets better, I may start again, but for now, I'll put it on the shelf (no pun intended). It's sad though that the last book won't be written by him.

yes the first book isnt to terribly exciting but after that one he changes the tone changes dramatically and the series starts to get much better

I find the other way...the first books are great then half way the series starts to lose steam and getting dull...and when it starts to pick up....the writer dies.